


Worse than a few broken ribs

by Ely_Pines



Series: The Ultimate Voltron S8 AU [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Disabled Keith, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Klance - freeform, M/M, Whumptober 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 09:00:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16489586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ely_Pines/pseuds/Ely_Pines
Summary: Keith learns his legs injuries are worst than he thought. But he also learns that Lance is here for him.Prompt day 16: Broken ribs





	Worse than a few broken ribs

Keith blinked a few times before completely opening his eyes. The first thing he saw was the ceiling. A blankish, almost mildewed ceiling. He lowered his eyes and saw the white sheet covering his body. As soon as he only moved his head, the pain stroke in the front of his head. Once this one had faded away, he tried to move his hands and was relieved when he could. Nothing broken apparently. Only his legs felt numb. A horrible feeling squeezed his heart. He grasped the sheet and threw it away.

He sighed when he discovered his legs were still here.

“Keith?”

His abrupt movements had woken up the person beside him. Keith finally turned around, only to find himself staring at Lance. The Red Paladin sat up in his chair and Keith figured he must had been asleep until now. So how long had he been away?

“You okay buddy?” asked Lance.

Now that he look with attention to his surrounding, Keith could recognize his bedroom inside the hospital near the Garrison. He was back to Earth.

“Yeah, I-”

He frowned.

“I’m fine.”

Lance smiled but it was a little smile. Keith had apparently scared his team mates. But when he tried to remember what happened, he could only see flashes and past a certain point, everything was blurred.

“Actually, I-” he stuttered, finding it difficult to concentrate. “What happened?”

“We were patrolling the Titan’s compound and we fell into a trap.”

Keith nodded. Yeah, he could remember that part. He remembered how they suddenly faced half of dozen Galras who had been hiding in the last room. He also remembered how Lance tried to keep them at a distance and how the ceiling - a different one from the room he was currently in, darker, purpler - came crashing down on them. After that...

“You saved me” he said like he didn’t believe it himself - or rather like he didn’t believe he had forgotten such an important part of the events.

Lance blushed.

“Not that much. I mean, the others came to help, too. Besides you would have done the same with me, right?”

Keith didn’t answer. Obviously, he would have, no doubt about it. But Keith was the reckless kid, the impulsive one on the team. He felt guilty about not caring more about his team mates - that was why he would gladly sacrifice himself - but he felt even more guilty when one of them saved him.

“Well I guess I owe you one anyway” he whispered.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Lance shrugging. The boy then jumped on his feet like he had been bitten by a mosquito.

“I have to tell the others!”

And like that, he was already at the door. Before crossing the threshold, however, he turned one last time to Keith and smiled.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in no time.”

The door closed behind him and Keith was left alone. He looked down at his legs.

The numb feeling was still there.

The Black Paladin used his hands to help him sit up. On the bedside table, he found a carafe and a glass already filled up. Maybe by Lance. He drank the water and smiled as he felt his mind became clearer. Cautiously, he gripped the thin fabric of his trousers to move his legs near the edge of the bed. Maybe the numb feeling would go away when he’d stand up. Resting on the mattress to prevent any fall, he tried.

The pain was so sudden and so sharp he fell to the ground.

He lay on the floor and stared mindlessly at the ceiling, panting and confused. Were his legs... broken again? He covered his eyes with his hands and let out a growl of frustration and anger. He remembered the last time, how he was confined to bed for a whole week, with no way whatsoever in which he could have moved around by himself. He didn’t want to relive this. _Come on legs_ , he thought - not one bit worried about him actually speaking to a part of his body.

He bent one knee and groaned when the pain returned. Why? He wasn’t even forcing on it! For one second, he thought that this time, it could be worse than last time. But he shook his head. No way. With everything happening, Serene and the new Altean colony, Goraz and the trap settled for them back on Titan, he couldn’t stay in bed for any longer. The Universe needed Voltron, for quiznak’s sake!

The boy gathered his courage and crawled back into his bed, just in time for the Paladins’ return.

“Hey Keith, you alright?” asked Lance immediately, frowning as he considered his friend being breathless like he had just run a marathon.

“Yeah... Yeah.”

Keith swallowed. No need to share his concern with his team mates. _I’m fine_ , he repeated to himself, _I’m gonna be just fine_.

Allura first approached him and took his hand. She squeezed it lightly and smiled.

“Keith, I’m so glad you’re okay” she said to him.

“Yeah” Pidge added while pushing her glasses upward on her nose - a gesture she made when she was both confident of her maths or embarrassed during social interactions, “you kind of scare us all, up there.”

“I’m sorry” he replied.

Hunk came in, carrying a plate with tenderly reddish cookies.

“I made you this.”

“Thanks, Hunk.”

Keith looked at the plate lying on his lap, feeling everyone staring at him. He picked up a cookie and took a bite of it. As always when it was about Hunk’s pastries, it was delicious. The half-breed thanked his friend. After that, every one fell silent but not in a companionably silent, more like a awkwardly silent. Keith was starting to wonder what he had done wrong when Allura eventually spoke.

“I’m so sorry Keith.”

His heart started beating faster.

“Sorry... about what?”

Allura looked pained but so did the others - as for Lance, he looked _devastated_.

“About your legs.”

Before he could ask anything more about it, she continued but so low he first thought he didn’t understand her - then he hoped he would have understood her wrongly:

“I wish we could have done more about it.”

 

***

 

The moon was almost full. Keith could see it from his window. At least, he was in the fifth floor and overlooked the city below so his horizon was clear. But he wished he could have been outside to look at it directly. His eyes drove away to his legs and he sighed.

So that was it. Wounded for life. He had been able to avoid the complete paralysis only thanks to Allura’s powers. But the damage his body suffered from was so serious, she couldn’t have done more. His thoughts wandered to the next day.

Allura had told him the doctors would come for his prosthesis. He was going to have to wear an robotic exoskeleton. His legs could still function and his knees bend but they couldn’t support him anymore. That was it. The whole thing. His legs were now too weak to support him.

And they were going to be too weak for the rest of his life.

He burst into tears.

“Keith?”

He lifted his head to see Lance on the threshold. The Cuban boy was shifting from one foot to another, unsure about what to do.

“Can I... Can I come in?” he finally asked.

Keith nodded.

Lance entered the room and closed the door behind him. There was no light except for the moon’s. Lance came sitting on his bed, by his legs. For several seconds, he looked away, biting his lower lip. Finally, he stared at Keith.

“I’m so sorry for your legs, Keith. If only I had done more-”

“Lance.”

Keith huffed with irritation. Lance was always blaming himself for his supposed incompetence like Keith blamed himself for not caring enough. But the truth was, Lance saved his life. Lance _fucking_  saved his life and did so in defiance of his own life. There was nothing more Lance could have done; Keith already owned him everything.

They both looked outside the window, at the moon. The silence was as awkward as before and Keith felt mildly angry about it. He felt like it was his fault. To always be the grim one while Lance had been watching over him ever since they got him back to Earth - he had Allura confirm it during the day - and doing everything he could to cheer him up. Yeah he was definitively being ungrateful.

“Lance, listen.”

The Red Paladin tilted his head in his direction, waiting. God, Keith thought, he looked so eager to help.

“I-”

Keith shrugged. He didn’t want to make it a big deal actually - even if it was.

“Just thanks. For everything.”

“Aw man, no prob! You know you can always count on Lance Sharpshooter McClain!”

And here goes the smile - that horrible, insufferably cocky smile. Keith rolled his eyes.

“But” continued Lance, “if you insist so much, I can accept a kiss.”

Could he roll his eyes even stronger?

“OK, get out now.”

Lance burst laughing and after a few seconds, Keith gave up and laughed too. Lance looked at him with another smile - a nicer, tender one.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Even if it were the exact same words everybody had kept telling him all day long, Keith really felt happy hearing it from Lance.

Somewhere in his mind, he began to think that he had been lucky. That it could have been worse. And so that now, it could only get better.

Thanks to “Lance Sharpshooter McClain”.

**Author's Note:**

> Here you go people: last day of whumptober! (And I would have posted it yesterday if it hadn't been for you, meddling Nano!)  
> Prepare for the big sequel aka my ultime Voltron S8 AU!


End file.
